Happy birthday 水木しげるさん！

Today is the 88th birthday of 水木しげる (Shigeru Mizuki).

Mr. Shigeru Mizuki
(born 1922 March 8)

He is an anime artist that I like.

His most famous work is the 「ゲゲゲの鬼太郎」 (“Ge-ge-ge-no-Kitarou“) anime series.

This series is about a group of 妖怪 (ghouls) led by Kitaro who protect humans from other, less-kind ghouls who want to hurt them.

It’s a fun series.

And Mr. Shigeru Mizuki, the artist, is a person with an interesting life story.

When he was a child he enjoyed drawing and listening to an old neighbor lady’s ghost stories.

And when he was a young man, both he and his brother were drafted by the Japanese Army to fight in World War 2.
The army sent him to help defend their base in New Guinea.

While he was there, he lost his left arm (the arm he used to draw his art with) in the Allied bombings.
Unbelievably, he taught himself to draw using his other hand.

While he was in the base hospital recovering from his injuries, he met and became close to some of the local tribes-people.
The chief of the tribe offered him some land and a position in their tribe if he married the chief’s daughter.
He decided that the offer sounded good and told an officer in the army that he wanted to stay on the island after being discharged.
The army officer told he that he could stay there…but he should first return to Japan to say goodbye to his parents. He decided to follow that advice.

But upon returning to Japan, he decided that he couldn’t go back to New Guinea because his parents were ill and had no one else to care for them since Mr. Mizuki’s brother was convicted of war crimes by the Allies and executed.
So he stayed in Japan and cared for his parents…and he became a popular anime artist.

I wrote another post about 水木しげる (Shigeru Mizuki) and the 「ゲゲゲの鬼太郎」 (“Ge-ge-ge-no-Kitarou“) anime…click here.

Voice of 目玉おやじ R.I.P.

I’ve mentioned before that I like the Japanese manga and anime titled 「ゲゲゲの鬼太郎」 (“Gegege-no-Kitarou“).

It’s about a group of 妖怪 (ghouls) who help humans.

I have a few of the manga, I watch the anime on TV sometimes, and my family and I went to see both of the live-action movies at the theater.

I also like the artist, 水木しげる (Shigeru Mizuki). His life story is fascinating.
I wrote a bit about him and the 「ゲゲゲの鬼太郎」 (“Gegege-no-Kitarou“) on another post.
Click here read it.

Anyways, 田の中勇 (Isamu Tanonaka), the 政友 (“Seiyuu“)…”voice actor”…who did the voice of one of this show’s main characters–「目玉おやじ」 (“Medama-oyaji“) died last Wednesday.
He was 77 years old.

田の中勇 (Isamu Tanonaka), R.I.P.

I wrote a post last September about the death of the artist of another popular Japanese manga…Click here to read it.

ゲゲゲの鬼太郎ハッピーセット

「マックドナルド」 (McDonalds Japan) is currently offering 「ゲゲゲの鬼太郎」 (Ge-ge-ge-no-Kitarou) toys with their 「ハッピーセット」 (“Happy Set” (Kids Meal)).

「ゲゲゲの鬼太郎」 (Ge-ge-ge-no-Kitarou) is a Japanese アニメ (anime cartoon) that I like.

鬼太郎＆目玉オヤジ

The artist and creator of the 「ゲゲゲの鬼太郎」 (Ge-ge-ge-no-Kitarou) cartoon is 水木しげる (Shigeru Mizuki).

水木しげる (Shigeru Mizuki) was interested in Japanese 妖怪 (ghouls) since his childhood.
Many of the characters he draws are inspired by traditional Japanese ghosts and ghouls (just as the West has Dracula, Frankenstein’s monster, etc…Japan has their own monsters).

Ukiyoe picture of a Japanese 妖怪 (monster).

水木しげる (Shigeru Mizuki) was left-handed, and drew all of his art with his left-hand, of course…but he was in the Japanese Army during WW2 and he lost his left arm during an Allied air raid. So he taught himself to draw using his right-hand!

He has drawn many WW2 cartoons and pictures…and many 妖怪 (ghouls) cartoons. He is most famous for his 「ゲゲゲの鬼太郎」 (Ge-ge-ge-no-Kitarou) comics.

In Japan, you can find 「ゲゲゲの鬼太郎」 (Ge-ge-ge-no-Kitarou) マンガ (comics), アニメ (cartoons), 映画 (movies), T-shirts, toys, postcards, cell-phone straps, etc…

The story of 「ゲゲゲの鬼太郎」 (Ge-ge-ge-no-Kitarou) is about the main character 「鬼太郎」 (Kitaro) who is a 妖怪 (ghoul) with one eye and an assortment of powers who helps protect humans from evil 妖怪 (ghouls).

He is joined by his father 「目玉オヤジ」 (Medama-oyaji), who is basically just an eye-ball with a small body, and a group of friends who include 猫娘 (Neko-musume (Cat-Girl)), and ねずみ男 (Nezumi-Otoko (Rat-man)).

It’s a fun show. The cartoon is on Sunday mornings at 9:00 (although I seldom watch the cartoon…I did see both of the live-action movies with my family at the theaters).

All of my kids are too old for the McDonalds 「ハッピーセット」 (“Happy Set“) so I probably won’t get any of these characters, though.